Thursday 16th
June 2016
The internet here is much speedier and more reliable than
anywhere in the Philippines or in Palau.
Go figure! I have bought pulsa (top-up
for my modem) from these cheery boys in Waisai, who work carefully and
diligently and then say, “If there is anything else we can do, come and see us!” Maybe they were overwhelmed with gratitude because
I printed out this photo for them, but nevertheless, they were so very helpful,
and I appreciated it.
Last night we were eating our dinner and thinking how
very nice it would be to go to Sleepyboboland when HELOO HELLO! Five visitors from the Department of Tourism,
ready for a lengthy chat…Carolyn, Shirlee, Hulsa, Dicky and Latif were just lovely
but we only let them stay long enough to eat a choc biscuit each…we really were
VERY tired.
Because…we had just come from Helen Reef; not such a very
long way, just one overnighter but…the autopilot chucked it in and we had to
steer manually and…well that is VERY tiring for people like us, who do the travelling
by sea thing as easily as possible, with motors and technology helping us
along.
In the morning we gloried in having internet access and
used up all of my pulsa…hence the second visit,
with newly printed photo, to my helpful PulsaBoys. We very much enjoyed a visit from Fikri, one
of the more senior members of the tourism team.
He is such a radiant person, so full of optimism and plans for the glorification
of Raja Ampat.
But…I asked him, idly, if it was OK for me to swim out
from the marina. I did this last year, many
times…) He said, in his polite and dignified way, “Margarette, I have to warn
you. There have been crocodiles here.” AAGGHH!!
But…there aren’t any mangroves, why would there be crocs?? He and Pete looked at me with deep sympathy and
said. “There are mangroves all around the marina!” And yes of course there are…I walk across the
ramp above them every day…
He also, told me, with just a bit of a smile, that
very recently a Russian tourist was eaten by a saltwater crocodile, near Pulau
Minyaifun. The smile was rueful…the
Russians are not popular here, and have been unofficially banned from a few
dive resorts because of fighting and drunkenness. This particular croc victim had warned told
NOT to swim near the homestay, but he knew better…. (We anchored near Minyaifun
last year and I kept well out of the water…it did look VERY crocodiley.)
So…no swimming for Margarette…but I can’t sit on my
bottom all day; I need to fit into my shorts so we can do an early morning bird
of paradise walk on Saturday, with the rally people!! So I walked into town and back – only about 6
kilometres, but better than the proverbial sitting on bottom activity.
 |
| Some of the houses are so very pretty |
It was hot, but not as unbearably hot as Palau or
Davao. I had water, an umbrella to keep
the sun off, my iPhone full of newly downloaded podcasts. Happiness!
Lots to see along the way – the ubiquitous "American" vine, a relic of WWII, smothering the landscape.
A very cute shrine, with four dogs warning me to keep
AWAY, with their tails not very threateningly wagging!
And then in Waisai proper…all that street art! This fish was my favourite, along with a whole
lot of fairly grim looking mermaids and whales.
Maybe I will go for another walk tomorrow and capture a few other little
gems.
The huge dolphins were still languishing in their
stagnant pools, with happy children clambering over their flippy tails.
The Waisai Eiffel Tower wasn’t quite as big as I remembered
but it is still there, on the waterfront.
By the time I got there my water bottle was empty and
yes of course I needed to go to the toilet.
There are lots of little cabins along behind the Eiffel Tower; I remembered
from last year that some of them were toilets.
(No water no paper but toilets;
I wasn’t able to be fussy at this stage!)
A police officer saw me dithering around and called me over…He ushered
me into what I thought was a big toilet cabana but which was actually a Polis
outpost, and with sweeping gestures indicated an available toilet room. When I came out there were four officers waiting
anxiously outside the door, ready to receive a thumbs up…The people here are so
very nice, so very friendly.
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| My Polis station toilet stop |
After my fairly lengthy time in the pulsa shop, I went
down to the market to buy gorgeous purple eggplant. The fish ladies were very keen for me to buy
their fish but I said no, I would just take their photo instead. They seemed very happy about this but…do they
look happy??? Not sure if I should print
this out and deliver it to them…they look as if they want to murder me!!
And yes I did walk back home again, to 2XS, at the end
of the marina pontoon. Pete was ready to
call Fikri and the polis…but really this is possibly the very safest little
town in the world.
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